Kitap 7
95
There is also the torpedo. Plato, or Cantharus, says, in the Alliance— A boil'd torpedo is delicious food. But Plato the Philosopher says, in the Meno, You seem very much to resemble the sea-torpedo; for that fish causes any one who comes near it to become torpid. And an allusion to the name occurs also in Homer, where he says— His hand was torpid (νάρκησε) at the wrist. But Menander, in his Phanus, uses the termination a, and says— A certain torpor (νάρκα) creeps o'er all my skin; though no one of the ancient writers ever used this form of the word. But Icesius says that it is a fish without much nutriment or much juice in it, but that it has some cartilaginous sort of substance diffused all over it, very good for the stomach. And Theophrastus, in his book on Animals which live in Holes, says that the torpedo works its way underground because of the cold. But in his treatise on Poisonous Animals, and on Animals which sting, he says that the torpedo can send the power which proceeds from it through wood, and through harpoons, so as to produce torpor in those who have them in their hands. But Clearchus the Solensian has explained the cause of this in his treatise on Torpor; but, since his explanation is rather a long one, I do not recollect his exact words, but will refer you to the treatise itself.
